Photos: Atlantic City welcomes Miss America contestants

Share this story

Share this story

Miss Tennessee Shelby Thompson, front left, Miss Texas Ivana Hall, second front left, Miss Utah Ciera Pekarcik, third front left, and Miss Vermont Jeanelle Achee, fourth front left, applaud with other Miss America contestants during introductions after arriving in Atlantic City, N.J. on Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2013. The Miss America pageant is back in the city where it began, six years after spurning the city for Las Vegas. The pageant held a welcoming ceremony Tuesday for the 53 contestants, one from each state plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin n Islands. The contestants filed out of Boardwalk Hall, where the competition will begin next week and culminate days later, and walked across the Boardwalk to a stage. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)